Trust Fund Is Community's Link To Corridor

Maitland Cultural Connection Will Need Those Fine Touches

MAITLAND — Money can't buy a lot of things, but some money sure could help with the city's pursuit of its long-planned cultural corridor linking its best assets.

To get some money to finance some of the finer accessories for the corridor, a group of residents led by Anthony Ponticelli is working to establish a trust fund.

In the works for years, the corridor of landscaped paths and walkways will ultimately link City Hall, the Maitland Public Library, the Waterhouse Museum, the civic center and shopping, dining and recreation areas.

Work is expected to be completed by 2003. The entire project will cost about $1.75 million.

Boundaries of the corridor are Horatio Avenue to the north, Lake Sybelia to the west and the properties next to Maitland Avenue on the east. The recently renovated Lake Lily park at the south is the heart of the corridor.

What Ponticelli and others want is a perpetual source of money that can be spent on projects such as restoring the brick road in front of the Waterhouse Museum.

That road, now covered with asphalt, was originally brick with concrete strips to hold the brick in place. It is one of the state's last examples of road materials used in 1917, and it followed the route of the Montreal-to-St. Petersburg road called the Black Bear Trail, known after 1925 as Old Dixie Highway.

City officials last year cut from the budget for Lake Lily improvements $93,430 that would have restored the brick path. The city planned to apply for a state grant.

Ponticelli said the state will fund only about a third of that, with the balance coming from city or private funds.

In addition to the brick road, Ponticelli wants money available to buy items such as trash receptacles, park benches and tables, street lights, trees and a multipurpose gazebo.

Money also could be used for cultural activities such as art shows for children and seniors, concerts and plays. The trust fund could pay for advertising banners around Lake Lily.

''There's a lot of excitement about this now. I'm hoping it will mushroom,'' he said.

A celebration last week kicked off the effort. Hair salon owner Justine Chmielewski handed over a check for $755, which was 10 percent of the money she made on salon services for a week.

''The clients are from Maitland and the city supports us . . . so it was really a circle. When you support something like this, it will support you back in the long run,'' Chmielewski said.

''It worked out really well and I hope to do something again in the future,'' she said.

Getting more businesses involved will mean calling on corporations in Maitland for large donations, Ponticelli said. Other members of the trust fund group also will be going door-to-door asking for donations and planning other fund-raising events, he said.

The group is a nonprofit one, making donations to the trust fund tax deductible.

''By getting businesses and residents involved, they will be part of this. This will be their corridor,'' Ponticelli said.